Waste firm Panda wins bin-service contract

DÚN LAOGHAIRE Rathdown County Council has appointed private waste company Panda to take over its bin collection service.

The council announced in May it would no longer operate its own grey and green bin waste service. The announcement came after a report from local government auditor Anthony Doheny revealed there were almost €27 million in bin charge arrears from households. Labour councillors tried unsuccessfully to block the move to privatisation last month.

The appointment of Panda followed a public tender process and the company is to take over both the grey bin service and the green bin service, operated by Greyhound, from July 26th. It will also provide a brown bin service for organic waste from December.

The service will be free for six months to existing domestic council customers and when charges are introduced, they will be 20 per cent below the current council charge. The waiver scheme will also be applied.

Director of water and waste services Frank Austin, said the new arrangement was a “win-win” for customers and the council.

But Independent councillor Victor Boyhan said the arrangement would effectively give Panda control of the bin collection market in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown and he called for the establishment of a waste management regulator.